Municipal News & Jobs

With Shawnee planning to open the Soetaert pool this summer, city staff anticipate losing nearly half a million dollars by subsidizing 79% of operational costs. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, city staff expect to slash by more than half the number of guests allowed at the Thomas A. Soetaert Aquatic Center at one time. In a follow-up with the city council Tuesday evening, Sean Keenan, aquatics manager, said this will result in significant cuts in anticipated revenue through pool admission and concessions, and zero revenue from pool membership sales…
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

Johnson County Community College last week released a four-step return to campus plan.  The plan will resume on-campus activities and services while protecting the “health and safety of the campus community,” according to JCCC. “Fully restoring campus operations will require patience, careful consideration and deliberate implementation,” the Return to Campus Plan webpage reads. “As the situation is still fluid, some of these details may change.” The community college will only progress to the next step if there is a “downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period,” or if there is a “downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total test” within that same time frame.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

Following Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that would have capped her emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, Johnson County health officials say they’re strongly recommending local businesses and residents follow the state’s Ad Astra reopening plan even though the county won’t impose new official limits. With Kelly’s veto of the bill, the authority to set and enforce public health policies to stem the spread of the virus effectively falls to the counties. While Johnson County’s top health officers say they don’t plan to put any new restrictions in place given current conditions, they stressed the need for businesses and residents to be responsible in exercising social distancing and hygiene practices.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

Kansas no longer will impose a statewide phased-in reopening plan, Gov. Laura Kelly said Tuesday. In deciding to veto a bill that would have restricted her powers to respond to the coronavirus, she issued a new emergency declaration. “This legislation creates more problems than it solves,” Kelly said. She argued it would ultimately delay coronavirus aid from the federal government. “This would only prolong the economic pain of this crisis.” Kelly’s new order makes her phase-out of the economic shutdown and limits on mass gatherings an advisory guidebook for county officials — not a statewide command.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

The Roeland Park City Council last week signaled support for the “Ban the Box” effort and agreed to remove a question about criminal history from employment applications not related to public safety. “Ban the Box” is a movement to level the playing field for applicants with a criminal background, according to city documents. Assistant City Administrator Jennifer Jones Lacy said Johnson County removed the question from job applications in 2016 and former Gov. Jeff Colyer signed an executive order removing it from executive branch jobs in 2018.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)